Welt-wetting device for sewing-machines.



c. T. FARRELL WELT WETTING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, I915. V

Pafen ted Mar. 20,1917.

the Welt in the manner UTED STATES CHARLES T. FARRELL, OF STOUGHTON,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON,NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WELT-WETTING DEVICE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Patented Mar. 20, 1917..

Application filed May 3, 1915. Serial No. 25,550.

To all whom it may conoerm.

Be it known that 1, (Juanmcs FARRELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Stoughton, in the county of Norfolk and State ofltlassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inlVeltlVetting Devices for Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved welt wetting device for a weltsewing machine.

In the manufacture of welt shoes it is customary toimoisten and temperthe welt to get it into proper condition to be attached to the shoe. Theusual method of moistening and tempering the welt prior to the sewingoperation is to dip a roll of the welt into a vessel of water and let itstand to allow the moisture to thoroughly penetrate into all parts ofthe welt. When a welt which has been moistened in this manner is placedon a shoe having a light colored upper, the upper will be stained andotherwise damaged wherever the welt comes in contact with the upper.Further, when a watersoaked welt is placed on a shoe and the weltallowed to dry out it will shrink and curl and become hard so that itcannot be readily tempered again and caused to lie smooth and flat whenattached to the outsole. Also different kinds of welt, depending uponthe kind of leather and method used in curing and tanning the leather,require different quantities of moistening liquid to secure the propertempering for each individual welt. .lVlodern shoe manufacturing alsohas shown that with certain classes of welt the less the welt can bemoistened in order to be properly tempered, the better will be thecharacter of the welt and the more perfectly 'can it be attached in theshoe.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improvedwelt wetting device for a welt sewing machine to moisten the Welt, as itpasses to the sewing point, in such a manner that it will overcomeiectionable features incident to moistening heretofore practised.

With this object in view a feature of the present invention contemplatesthe provision in a welt sewing machine of a Welt wetthe ob ting devicewhich will apply a moistening liquid to less than the entire surface ofthe welt during the passage of the welt from a source of supply to thesewing point. By arranging the welt wetting device so that it moistensless than the entire surface of the welt a portion of the surface can beleft in an unmoistened condition and this surface can be that surface ofthe welt which is liable to come incontaot with the shoe upper duringthe sewing operation; To avoid moistening that part of the welt whichmight come in contact with and stain the shoe upper, the preferredembodiment of this feature of the invention contemplates applyingmoistening liquid to the flesh side only of the welt. In the best formof the invention which has yet been devised the moistening of the fleshside only of the welt is secured by delivering a moistening liquid intothe groove of the welt.

Another feature of the present invention contemplates the provision in awelt sewing machine of means for moistening the welt during its passagefrom the source of supply to the sewing point, and means for varying oradjusting the amount of moistening liquid applied to the welt. Theprovision of means by which the amount of moistening liquid applied tothe welt may be varied permits the moistening, to the desired extent, ofdifferent qualities of welting without danger of saturating the weltingto an undesirable degree. This feature of the in-v vention has beenembodied in a construction of welt wetting device which applies moistureto less than the entire surface of the welt. It is to be understood,however, that this feature of the invention is not limited I to anyparticular form of Welt wetting device, but is broad enough to includeany welt wetting device which moistens the whole or any part of thesurface of a welt so long as means are provided whereby the amount ofmoistening liquid applied to the welt may he varied.

The present invention also contemplates the provision in awelt sewingmachine, of means for moistening the welt, and means whereby themoistening of the welt may be discontinued while the machine is stopped.By the provision of means for preventing the welt from being moistenedWhile the machine is stopped, over-saturation of a portion of a welt isprevented and the welt throughout its length comes to the sewing pointin the proper tempered condition. In the preferred 'form of this featureof the invention mechanism is provided which ope-ates automatically tothrow the moistening means out of operation upon stopping the machine,and to throw the moistening means into operation upon starting themachine.

In applying the present invention to a welt sewing machine a weltwetting device of improved construction and mode of operation has beenproduced and this welt wetting device although particularly applicablefor use in sewing machines, also embodies certain novel features ofconstruction which are not limited to use in any particular kind ofInachine. These novel features of construction will be hereinafterdescribed and claimed and will be obvious to those skilled in the artfrom the following description.

The several features of the present invention will be clearly understoodfrom an inspection of the accom mnying drawings, in which Figure lis afront elevation of a welt sewing machine embodying my improved weltwetting device; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the improved welt wettingdevice; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the welt wetting devicetaken on the line 3-3, Fig. 2.

1n the drawings the invention is illus trated as embodied in a welt andturn sewing machine such as that shown and described in the patent toEppler, X0. 1,108,560, dated August 25, 1914. This machine is providedwith the curved, hook needle 10, the looper l2, thread finger 14,channel guide 16, feed point or awl 18, feed slide 20, and welt guideThese devices are operated through suitable connections by cams carriedon the main cam shaft 24 of the machine. As is usual in this type ofmachines, the cam shaft makes one revolution for each cycle ofoperations performed by the stitch forming and work feeding devices.

During the sewing operation the welt 26 is led up from a roll or hankover a welt measuring guide roll 28 of a welt measuring device andpasses forward to the sow ing point where the work feeding devicesintermittentlv feed it forward during the sewing operzition. The weltmeasuring device herein illustrated is substantially' the same as thewelt measuring device snown and described in the patent to Topham, No.1,092,326, dated June 9, 1914, to which reference is made for a detaileddescription of the construction and operation of said device. The roll28 is mounted on a measuring shaft 30 which is provided with a head orflange 31. On the head 31 is mounted a bell crank 32 which carries ameasuring gripping jaw 34-. \Vhcn the cam shaft 24 is stopped at the endof the sewing operation, the stopping mechanism actuates an arm 36 of aspring 58.

(Fig. 1) which presses against the point 38 on a plunger 40, mounted inthe measuring shaft, and this plunger in turn oscillates the bell crank32 to clamp the welt between the guide 28 and the jaw 34:. With the weltso clamped a forward pull on the welt in removing the shoe from themachine will rotate the measuring shaft 30 and this shaft will limit anddetermine the amount of welt drawn forward in removing the shoe asclearly described in Patent No. 1,099,326 above referred to. This alsothrows the welt severing device 42 into operation. Upon starting themachine for the stitching operation on the next shoe the arm 36 iswithdrawn to release the gripper 34 from the welt and allow the welt topass freely over the guide 28 to the sewingpoint.

The welt wetting device illustrated in the dra\\'ings consists of anozzle which is mounted on the guide roll of the welt measuring deviceand arranged to project into and apply moisture to the groove of thewelt as the welt is fed over the guide roll. The moisteniug nozzle it ismounted in a barrel to which. is held above the face of the guide roll28 and connected to the head 31 ot the measuring shaft by means of aflange 4-8. The nozzle is positioned in the barrel so that it willproject into the groove of the welt as it is fed overthe guide roll 28.Moistening liquid is conducted to the nozzle through the barrel. bymeans of a flexible tube 50 which may be connected with a source ofliquid supply consisting either of a fluid pressure main or a tanksupported on the machine frame. The tube 50 is connected with the barrel46 by means of a nipple secured in the end of the barrel. The flow ofmoistening liquid to the nozzle is controlled by means of a valve 54which is normally hel against a valve seat 56 in the barrel by means Thevalve 51 has a stem 30 which projects through a packing gland 132 in thehead of the barrel and the stem contacts with an operating lever (34.

The valve operating lever is controlled by the welt measuring device andacts to shut oil the supply of moisteuing liquid to the nozzle when themachine is stopped and to open the supply when the machine is in operation. During the sewing operation the welt is slowly ted over thewelt guide, so that a continuous stream of moisture is applied in thegroovebut when the sewing operation is completed the welt remainsstationary onl ever.- The face of the operating lever contacting withthe valve stem is eccentrncally to clamp the jaw mounted to the fulcrumpin shank so that when the bell crank 32 is'oscillated to withdraw theclamping jaw 34, from the welt the operating lever (it will act to pushthe valve 54 away from the valve seat and allow the moistening liquid'toflow through the nozzle 52. The reverse motion of the bell crank 32 onthe guide roll 28 at the completion of the sewing operation acts torelieve the'pressure of the operating lever on the valve stem to closethe valve and shut off the liquidsupply. 64 may be adjusted to ditferentpositions by means of the screw US to vary the extent of opening of thevalve 54 to admit ditl'erent quantities of moistening liquid to thenozzle. By this means the amount of liquid delivered to the \vclt may bevaried for dif-' ferent qualities. of welting so that any particularquality may gettlie necessary amount of moistening liquid to have it inproper temper for the sewing operation; ln order to adjust the nozzle A-t'or various thicknesses ol' welt the flange 4S provided with a slot bywhich the nozzle may be adjusted toward and from the face of the guideroll 28.

\Vith applicants wetting device the moisture can he conlined to thespecific area which needs to he tempered in order to prepare it for somesubsequent operation at the same time employing a minimum amount ofwater. In the moistcner illustrated the groove for receiving the seamwill he in a tempered condition while the main body portion ofthewelting will not he adectcd or moistencd,and thus avoid any staining ofthe upper or other undesirable features which follow from wetting thewelt over its entire surface.

Having thus scope of my invention cally dcscribed a machine indicatedthe nature and and having spec fiemhodylng the preferred form thereof,what I claim as 1. A welt shoe sewing machine, having, in -mnhination.feeding mechanism. and means for moistening the flesh side only of thewelt during its The operating lever stitch forming devices, work passagefrom a source of supply to thesew l: ing point.

:2. A welt shoe sewing machine, having ih combination, stitch formingdevices, work feeding mechanism, and means for deliver-- ing amoistening liquid into the groove of the welt during its passage from asource of supply to the sewing point. I

3. A welt shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch formingdevices, work feeding mechanism,-and means for applying moisteningliquid toless than the entire surface of the welt during its passagefrom a source of supply to the sewing point.

t. A welt shoe sewing machine. having, in combination. stitch feedingmechanism. means for moistening a detinite width of welt during itspassage from a source of supply to -the sewing point, and means forvarying the amount of moistening liquid applied to the welt.

5. A welt shoe sewing machine, having. in combination. stitch formingand shoe feeding nicclmnism, a welt measurcr for determining the amountof welt drawn forward in the removal of the shoe. and a moistcningdevice controlled by the operation of the welt measurcr for deliveringmoisture to the welt.

6. welt shoe sewing machine, having, in combination. stitch forming andshoe feeding mechanism. a guide for the \velting, a moistcning devicefor conducting moistening liquid to one side only of the welting as itpasses over the guide. and means for supplyiugliquid to the said device.

7. The combination of a guide for the welting. a 'nozzle arranged toproject into the grooveof the welting. and means for supplyingmoistcning liquid to the nozzle.

- S. The combination of a guiding'1nccha nism for the welting. means formoistening a definite width of welting, and means for controlling theamount of liquid placed on the weltin 9. The combination of a guide forthe welting. a moistening device having a'nozzle mounted on said guide.andnmans for adjusting the nozzle relatively to tl guide to provide forditlcrent thicknesses li f forming devices, work I wettin

